Bengaluru:14 hospitals to refund Rs 81 lakh excess bill collected from patients

There has been a lot of cases amid the covid pandemic where the hospitals have charged huge amount of bill to patients. In a similar incident, the grievance redressal authority in Bengaluru Urban district has directed at least 14 hospitals to refund Rs 81 lakh excess amount that they had charged to patients. The complaint also included Covid-19 infected patients. 

The cases were registered under provisions of Karnataka Private Medical Establishment Act and most have been resolved. The official stated that in few cases the hospitals were not at fault. However, the actual number of cases resolved in favour of patients is not yet known.

The complaints also included overbilling issues in which patients were admitted under government quota in private hospitals. Across the state, a total of 81 such cases were reported.

J Manjunath, deputy commissioner, Bengaluru Urban district, organized a meeting regarding the issue and said relatives of the families have alleged that there bills were more than what the government had fixed. Some of the patients have complained that the hospital did not take care of the patients while some questioned the delay in handing over bodies to relatives, Manjunath said. The committee also organized a meetings with private hospitals in order to know their version. Manjunath further said that refund will be given to patients who were charged in excess of the price cap. 

In one of the case, a Covid patient was admitted in hospital for 50 days. The patient stayed in covid ward for 23 days and non-Covid ward for 27 days. The patient’s family alleged the hospital charged them Rs 3.5 lakh more than prescribed. The committee ruled in favour of the patient’s family.

The officials also said that the number of complaints are less compared to the actual number of covid patients who took treatment in the hospital. 

Dr HM Prasanna, president, Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA), said hospitals must be punihed if found guilty. “We don’t stand with hospitals that violate government norms. Hospitals must stick to price caps when billing Covid patients. We had issued an advisory on this.”